Ani
by kuonji
Summary: Ani. Older brother. What does it mean to those who love him, and how do they cope when he is not by their side? A tale of grief made cruel and grief made brave, as two young men whose love for an older brother lead them down tragically colliding paths.


_Spoiler Warning: This story takes place just before episode 26 of the anime series, Fushigi Yuugi._

_Author's Note: I use several Japanese terms of address in this story.  I know it's a little confusing, but I find the shades of meaning very important.  Following is a quick reference if you need it._

_A-ni: older brother (general term, used to refer to one's own family member, i.e. **my** older brother)_

_Aniki: older brother (term of address, somewhat coarse, something a 'rough' sort of male youth may call his bro)_

_Niichan: older brother (term of address, familiar, implies cuteness on the part of the caller or callee)_

_Neechan: older sister (term of address, familiar, implies cuteness on the part of the caller or callee)_

_-san: conveys respect (e.g. Niisan is more respectful than Niichan or Aniki)_

_-jin: god_

_Shichiseishi: Literally, 'Seven (shichi) - Star(sei) - Warrior (shi)'.  I use this term for more formal reference to the Shichisei (i.e. the Seven Stars), or when I think the 'warrior' part of the title particularly relevant._

* * *

**A-ni**

by Kuonji

            I crouched close to the wall, listening to them talk and chatter inside the house, feeling the hard knot of anger and resentment and envy inside of me growing with every peal of laughter that rang out, carrying through the back window of their kitchen to my ears.  Why should they be alive?  Why should they be so happy?  I shut my eyes and ground my teeth in anger.

            Why should they still have everything that I had lost?

            "Chuei-niichan!  He took my doll again!"

            "Sh, Yuiren, Father's sleeping."

            "But Shunkei-niichan--"

            "Shunkei, give it back to her."

            A laugh, then, "No!  I'm going to throw it in the river!  Nyah!"

            "Niichan!!"

            "Will all of you shush?  I'm going to cut my fingers off here with all of you distracting me..."

            "Gyokuran, you don't have to do that.  Let me."

            "Children..."

            Immediate silence.

            "Sorry, Father, we didn't mean to..."

            "No, it's all right.  You don't all need to treat me like an invalid anymore.  That Suzaku Shichisei healed me, remember?  Besides, even when I was ill, the sound of your voices always made me happy."  The older voice was gentle and quiet, the voice of a poor man who is nevertheless happy with his lot.  _Father..._

            "Father..."  The sound of quick footsteps moving across the wooden floor, of hugging and of quiet joy.

            "So, what's for dinner?"

            More laughter, then the excited chatter of four young voices talking at once.

            _Chuei_, _Gyokuran_, _Shunkei_, and _Yuiren_.

            They were all very young.  Even the oldest one was younger than we were.  Than _I_ was, I mean.  This surprised me, somehow.  Nakago-sama had told me how to get here to Hakuko village, but he hadn't told me much of anything else.  I had had to ask some of the villagers just to find out where Tamahome's family lived.

            Tamahome's family.  The people I was planning to kill as soon as it got dark.

            I sat back against the wall of the house and closed my eyes, the by now familiar pain welling up again, threatening to break through to the surface and force tears out of my stinging eyes.

            _Aniki..._

            I pulled the sides of my black assassin's cloak around me, drawing comfort from the voluminous folds of soft cloth.

            _Aniki, we won't laugh together like that anymore, will we?  We won't tease each other anymore, or eat our dinner together.  You won't be there anymore if I get sick.  You won't be there anymore if I need you for anything._

_            Because I wasn't there when you needed me._

            I crossed my arms tightly in front of myself, hiding inside my cloak of blackness.

            I should have been the one to come to Kounan.  If only my powers had been more developed like Aniki's were.  I should have been the one to face all of the Suzaku Shichiseishi alone.  I knew better than my brother how to fight, so maybe I could have beaten them, even though those foul people had fought six to one.  And even if I had lost, my brother wouldn't have had to be the one to die so horribly.

            Besides, it would have been better if I had died instead of my brother.

            Aniki would have missed me, but he wouldn't have cried like I had.  He was smarter and more mature than I was.  He would have been strong, and continued what we had tried to do, instead of becoming so pathetically lost and afraid like I had.  He wouldn't have needed Yui-sama to comfort him like a little baby.

            Yui-sama...  Seiryuu's Miko.

            She had hugged me, and stayed by me while I was feeling so broken inside.  No one else had ever done that, except for my brother, and my parents, whom I hardly remember anymore.  She was such a gentle and caring girl to want to comfort me, even though we had only just met, and I had been behaving like a child.

            _Aniki, you would have liked her._

            "Chuei-niichan, do you know when Niichan is coming back?"

            "I don't know, Yuiren.  Niichan didn't say.  He's a Suzaku Shichiseishi now, so he's very busy."

            "But _I_ know.  Niichan is coming back _soon_, maybe tomorrow, even!"

            "How do you know that?"

            "I had a dream last night, and Niichan said that he was coming back soon and that he was going to bring Neechan back with him!  They're going to get married and then Niichan said that he would stay here with us forever!"

            "Really?  That's wonderful, Yuiren!  Did you dream maybe that we found a huge bag of money, too?"

            "No..."

            "Or a gold mine?"

            "No..."

            "That's too bad, because if all your dreams came true, we could be rich!"

            "If all of her dreams came true, we'd have talking dolls and flying rabbits!"

            "Father, they're making fun of me!"

            "Chuei, Shunkei, stop teasing your sister."

            "Awww..."

            "Niichan _is_ coming back soon, and then he's going to stay here forever.  You'll see!"

            I stood up suddenly, not wanting to listen anymore.  _My_ Niisan was not coming back.  Ever.  And it was their brother's fault.

            I stalked away and left the village behind me.

            In the rim of the surrounding forest, I found a place next to an old tree which would provide a comfortable seat.  It should get dark enough for me to make my move in less than an hour.

            I settled myself for the wait.

*   *   *

            Chuei wiped his hands dry on his shirt and breathed a sigh of relief.  All the dishes were cleaned and put away.  All the chores were done for the day too, which meant that he could have a little free time.  Being the oldest in the family while Niichan was away was hard.  He had to take care of everyone else.

            But now that Father was well, lots of things were different.  Even though Father was still a little weak from being sick for so long, he could make a lot of the decisions in the household, as well as help Chuei with the fields.

            Chuei felt that he could rely on someone all the time now.  It was a good feeling.  He turned to find where his Father was now.  It pleased him that he had to look for him, because that meant that he was no longer eternally in bed.

            "Father?"  He was still at the table.  He had his chin on his hands and he was staring off into space.  Chuei walked up from behind and put his arms around his father's neck.  "Father, what are you thinking about?"

            Father turned to smile at him, and he put a hand on Chuei's arm in greeting, then pulled his son forward so that they could face each other.  "I was thinking about your older brother," he answered.

            "Niichan?"

            Father nodded.  "I was just thinking about how hard his life has been, and how it has changed so much in the past few months.  It's always been apparent to me that your brother would lead a special life.  I didn't know about the Miko before Tamahome met her and learned of the legend from the Emperor, but I was always certain that the character on his forehead marked him for a destiny unlike ours."

            He sighed.  "According to the letter that the royal messenger brought us yesterday, Tamahome's duties as a Shichiseishi aren't over yet.  Who would have thought that Chiriko was an imposter?  It's a good thing that the real Chiriko arrived in time to save them all."

            Chuei nodded.  He couldn't believe it either.  Chiriko-san had been so kind and gentle.  And even though he had seemed just a bit withdrawn at first, he had never seemed to be out of place among the rest of the Suzaku Shichisei.  No one would ever have thought that he didn't belong with them, not until he revealed himself at the ceremony.  He must have been a very talented actor, Chuei thought.  He didn't think he himself could ever be able to act so friendly with people he honestly wanted to kill.

            "Thanks to Chiriko," Father continued, "your brother and the others were saved, but now they will have to leave for even farther lands.  Hokkan, the land of the north, the land of Genbu...  It is a harsher, colder kingdom than ours.  We can only believe that Tamahome will finish his duties safely.  He takes his duties seriously, as he should, and I know that he takes them willingly, but I also know that his life will not be an easy one.  I just hope that our presence isn't a burden for him.  I want him to live his life to the fullest, especially now that he has found someone special..."

            "You mean Miaka-san?"  Chuei smiled.  He liked Miaka-san.  She was a funny girl, but also very kind, and brave.  And he could tell that she and Niichan adored each other.

            Father chuckled.  "Yes, Miaka.  I want them to be happy together.  And I don't want your brother to have to worry about us too much."

            Chuei smiled.  "He won't have to, because Father's well again.  You'll take care of us all now, won't you, Father?"

            Father put a hand on Chuei's head and stroked his hair, a gesture that Chuei allowed despite the fact that he was twelve and almost a man, because he knew that it was a gesture of love.  "Of course, Chuei," Father answered.  Then he looked mock-stern.  "But that doesn't mean that you can get away from your responsibilities."

            "Of course not, Father," Chuei replied, giggling.  He wasn't used to Father being so active and full of fun, but it was a wonderful and welcome change.  He mentally thanked Suzaku-jin again that Miaka-san had been close by that time that Father's illness had taken such a bad turn.  And that man, one of the other Shichisei.  Mitsukake-san.  He had given their family something that no amount of money in the world could buy.

            He had given them their father back.

            Chuei couldn't resist throwing his arms around his father again.  He hugged him furiously.

            "Chuei...?"

            "Nothing, father.  I'm just... I'm just so _happy_."

            Father hugged him back, seeming to understand.  They stayed that way for a while, until Chuei began to feel slightly embarrassed.  He dropped his arms and stood back, but he smiled at Father, showing him that he didn't really mind a hug now and then.

            "Yuiren, what's that?"

            Chuei looked up at his sister's voice.

            "I'm making a necklace for Neechan.  See, it's almost done!"

            Chuei leaned to the side to look around Gyokuran at what Yuiren was holding up.

            "Yuiren!" he cried.  "That's a bridal necklace!"

            Yuiren nodded happily.  "Mm-hm.  Niichan and Neechan are going to get married, remember?  So Neechan has to have a necklace."

            Chuei walked over and looked at the bumpy, uneven thing.

            "Neechan won't want that," Shunkei said, having come over at the commotion.  "It's all bumpy and weird-looking."

            Yuiren hugged the necklace to her chest and pouted.  "She will too want it!" she said.  "Won't she, Chuei-niichan?"

            Chuei blinked, not wanting to be caught up in this.  "Um, of course she will, Yuiren," he replied.  "Here, let me look at it."  Yuiren happily handed over her workmanship.

            Chuei held up the necklace in his hands.  It _was_ rather poorly made, but considering that his sister was only four years old, it actually wasn't too bad.  He thought of Miaka-san, remembering her enthusiastic personality and her cheery smile.  He smiled himself as he handed the necklace back.  "Of course she'll want it," he said with more conviction.  "It's wonderful, Yuiren."

            His youngest sister beamed and stuck out her tongue at Shunkei, who just shrugged his shoulders and rolled his eyes.

            Gyokuran leaned down to give Yuiren a hug.  "It _is_ wonderful, Yuiren.  Why don't you finish it quickly now.  You said that Niichan is coming back soon, right?"

            "Uh-huh!" Yuiren agreed.  And she immediately got back to work threading the beaded acorns onto the unfinished bridal necklace.

            Chuei sat down across from her to watch, and he let his mind wander for a moment.  It would be so wonderful if what Yuiren had said could be true, if Niichan really could come home to stay forever.  And Miaka-san too.  If Niichan brought Miaka-san back with him, and they got married...  Niichan would be _so _happy.  And they could all live together here with each other.

            Chuei sighed.

            Of course, that couldn't happen.  Niichan couldn't come back to stay until at least after Miaka-san called Suzaku.  He had his duties as a Suzaku Shichiseishi.  And Chuei wondered whether Niichan would _want_ to live with all his little brothers and sisters once he got married.  Chuei might not be old enough to know a lot of things, but he did know that men and women who got married usually wanted to live by themselves.

            What had Father said?  That Niichan had a very special destiny, and that he lived a life that was different from theirs.  Might it be so different that he would forget about them all?  His destiny had already led him to leave them behind for so long...

            Chuei shook his head.  _I'm being silly_, he thought.  Of course Niichan was coming back, just like Yuiren said.  It'd just take a while, that's all, because he had to fulfill his duties as a Shichiseishi first.  Whether or not he wanted to stay with them afterwards was his decision, but once Suzaku was called, he would surely come back at least for a long visit.

            "All done!" Yuiren announced, snapping Chuei out of his reverie.  He looked at the finished necklace which Yuiren held in her small child's hands.

            "It's beautiful, Yuiren," he told her.  And it was.  Even with its crude sort of look, it was beautiful.

            Yuiren turned to shout to her other siblings.  "Neechan!  Shunkei-niichan!  Look!  I'm done, and Chuei-niichan said-"

            The door slammed open with a bang, startling the rest of her words from her.  They all stared in surprise at the figure which stood in their front doorway.

            A dark cloak covered the person from head to foot, and a hood was pulled up over its face so that all that showed was a pair of dark, narrowed eyes.  Chuei couldn't tell whether the stranger was a man or woman, young or old, but something about the manner in which it was standing, and the way its eyes were frowning in the lamplight, seemed somehow ominous.

            "Who are you!" Father said, standing up from the table.  "What do you want here?"

            Something flew out from the stranger and hit Father in the chest, so fast that Chuei couldn't even have been sure that it had happened if it weren't for the fact that Father suddenly fell back into his seat with a sharp gasp of pain.

            "Father!" Chuei cried, running toward him.

            The stranger said nothing, but more blurs of movement shot out from him, making dreadful snapping, thudding noises against Father's jerking body.  It was over in a mind-numbing moment, and before Chuei could even reach his father's side, he knew that Father was dead.

            "Father!" he screamed, refusing to believe it.  He raced to the table as he saw his father fall heavily across it.  He took hold of his father's shoulder and shook it, hesitantly at first, then harder, praying for him to wake up, praying for him to be alright.  But there was no response to his desperate shouts.

            "Father!"

            "_Father_!"

            Gyokuran and Shunkei ran over as well, and also took hold of Father's shirt, trying to make him wake up.  Yuiren stayed where she was, shocked, or else simply not understanding what was going on.  She still clutched the bridal necklace which she had been holding up so gleefully less than a minute ago.

            Chuei backed away from his Father's body, still seated at the table there but with thick bright blood running down from a terrible wound in his head and from other parts of his battered body.  He knew that Gyokuran's and Shunkei's tearful cries would not be able to reach their father any more than his own had.

            This couldn't be happening.  It was all just a nightmare.  Some insane person couldn't have just come in here and killed his father, who had only just gotten well again, who had just promised to take care of them all.  Father, who had hugged him not long before and laughed with them all like he hadn't done in years.

            Chuei spun with angry eyes on the stranger.

            "Who are you!" he shouted, feeling bold and reckless.  He might be only twelve, and not a warrior as his older brother was, but he would fight this person who had murdered his Father.  Fight him to the death.

            "Who am I?" the stranger repeated, and Chuei could hear the cold laughter in his voice.  The stranger reached up and, with one swift motion, pulled off the dark cloak and hood that had been hiding his features.

            It was a young man, that much Chuei could see in the dim light, with short light-colored hair and a fierce expression.  Chuei realized with a start that he looked familiar...  The person stepped into the house then, and Chuei gasped as the light from their oil lamp fell full on the person's face.

            "Chiriko-san?"  Or rather, "Amiboshi!"

            Amiboshi, the Seiryuu Shichiseishi who had pretended to be Chiriko and tried to kill all of the Suzaku Shichiseishi.  But... But wasn't Amiboshi dead?  Niichan had said in his letter that Amiboshi had fallen into the river and drowned.

            "I'm not Amiboshi," the person replied coldly.  "My name is Suboshi, one of the Seiryuu Shichisei.  Your brother killed my brother, so I have come to kill you all."

            His brother...?

            As he thought this, what looked to be two colored round balls, each about the size of Chuei's fist, floated up behind the head of the person who called himself Suboshi.  Chuei stared at them in amazement as they began to spin in the air like floating tops, whipping around in midair with an audible whirring sound while hovering behind Suboshi like a pair of trained pets.  Chuei noticed that there were ropes attached to the spinning balls, and that the ends of them were connected to each other as one and being held -- no doubt controlled -- by Suboshi's hand.

            As intriguing as they were, however, Chuei's blood chilled when he realized that the dark colored spots he had noticed on them could only be blood.  And tied underneath the spinning balls were a pair of flying tassels, such as might be seen on the end of a spear, used to confuse an enemy as to the direction of attack.  There was no doubt in Chuei's mind that these odd flying balls were indeed deadly weapons and that this stranger, Suboshi, had killed his father with them.

            But _why_?  Why would he want to kill them?  Chuei tried to think.

            His 'brother,' he had said.  Niichan had killed his brother?  And he looked exactly like Amiboshi...  Could it be that Amiboshi was a twin?  Chuei had never seen twins before, but he knew that sometimes two babies born at the same time would mirror each other's features exactly, and legend said that these 'twins' shared a magical bond stronger than any normal siblings'.  If that were the case, then this Suboshi could very well be Amiboshi's twin brother coming to seek revenge.  That would explain everything.

            But Suboshi had it all wrong!  Niichan hadn't killed his brother.  Miaka-san had even tried to save him from falling into the rivier, after all he'd done!

            "Why did Niichan kill your _niichan_?" came a small but firm voice.  Chuei gasped, his frantic thoughts shattered as he looked at Yuiren.  She had stood up and was walking toward Suboshi with a curious frown on her face.

            "Yuiren, wait--"

            "Because Aniki stopped them from calling Suzaku."  Chuei looked back at Suboshi, surprised that he had bothered to answer the little girl's question.

            "Why did he do that?" Yuiren asked, frowning even more.

            "To stop Kounan from fighting Kutou."

            "But if we called Suzaku, everybody would be happy.  That's what Niichan said."

            Suboshi frowned at that, which made Chuei grit his teeth in fear for his sister.  He wanted to stop her, to catch her back before she annoyed Suboshi further.  She didn't understand the danger of the situation.  Seiryuu's people were their enemies, and they were cruel and heartless.  Suboshi was certainly planning to follow through with his threat of killing them.  Chuei wasn't sure why he was even stopping now to answer Yuiren's questions.

            "Don't you understand?" Suboshi growled, his weapons whirring angrily behind him.  "If Kounan calls Suzaku, they'll be strong enough to fight Kutou!  Then war will break out and even more people will die!"

            Even in his state of nervous fear, Chuei felt surprised.  Was that really what Suboshi thought?  That Kounan wanted to fight Kutou?  He had everything all backwards!  Niichan and the others were going to call Suzaku-jin to protect them from being attacked by Kutou!

            But Chuei was afraid to speak, lest he touch off Suboshi further.  There might still be hope that they could escape, or that someone would hear the commotion come to help.  For now, all they could do was to keep Suboshi from acting.

            "That's not true!" Yuiren cried, and Chuei felt cold clammy sweat running down from his forehead.

            "Yuiren..." he said, almost in a whisper.  "Yuiren, don't talk back to him.  Come over here, Yuiren."

            Yuiren ignored him and continued to speak to the Seiryuu Shichiseishi.

            "Niichan and Neechan were going to call Suzaku so that everybody would be happy!  Your _niichan_ must have messed everything up!"

           Chuei sucked in his breath.  "Yuiren," he heard Gyokuran call gently from behind him with a trembling voice.  "Yuiren, come here, don't-"

            "My brother was trying to save the people of Kutou!  He was going to save everyone from the wars that have been making us suffer for so long.  If we could have stopped the Suzaku Shichiseishi earlier and called Seiryuu..."

            Yuiren stamped her foot on the ground.  "No, no, no!  Seiryuu is bad, because it's enemies with Suzaku!  Suzaku-jin would make everybody happy, that's what Niichan said.  So Niichan was fighting Seiryuu's bad people.  Niichan is a _good _person.  He only fights _bad _people.  If Niichan killed your _niichan_, your _niichan_ must have been very very bad."

            "Yuiren, no!"  Chuei saw the look of rage that passed over Suboshi's face, and he knew with sudden clarity that his little sister was going to die.  He ran towards Yuiren, hoping to block the coming blow with his own body, or else, miraculously, to catch her and save them both from it.  But before he had taken two steps, a single blur of movement shot out from Suboshi.  Yuiren screamed and flew backwards against the far wall.  She hit the ground and rolled several feet before coming to a stop.  Chuei could see blood beginning to well out of her tunic.

            "Yuiren..."  Chuei stood stock-still, staring at his sister.

            "Stupid brat," Suboshi muttered.  Then his gaze fell on Chuei.  "Now," he said in a barely-controlled tone of fury, "I'm going to kill the rest of you."

            Chuei backed away, feeling sick and afraid.  The look in the Seiryuu Shichiseishi's eyes was ugly and cruel, the look of a killer.

            But there was no time to be afraid.  Chuei was the oldest right now, and he had to protect the living.  He spun quickly and ran to where Gyokuran and Shunkei were still standing, clutching Father's sleeves and staring on with wide frightened eyes.

            "Gyokuran, Shunkei, run!" he shouted, and he forcibly pushed them toward the kitchen, the only place they could go that was _away_ from Suboshi.

            "You won't get away from me!" Chuei heard Suboshi shout, and the whir of the flying balls that were his weapons seemed loud with menace.

            "Get behind me," he told his siblings once they got into the kitchen.  They nodded, eyes still wide with fear but not panicking, thank goodness.  A weapon, he needed a weapon.  His eyes fell on the knife which Gyokuran had been using to cut vegetables with earlier.  She must have left it on the cutting board and forgotten to wash it.

            Chuei snatched up the knife and spun around to face their attacker.  He grit his teeth and stood with his feet slightly splayed and light on the ground, ready to move, and with his knife in front of him.  He doubted that he was any match for Suboshi, but he would certainly try to give him a fight!

            Suboshi appeared, making a dark patch of shadow on the ground where he blocked the light from the main room.  His deadly floating balls followed him, making their own dark-stained shadows on the ground.  "You won't get away from me," he repeated, his voice tight with animosity.

            Chuei glared back.  "I won't let you kill my brother and sister," he said, feeling all of a sudden braver than he knew he had reason to be.

            "You think you can stop me?" Suboshi sneered.

            "No," Chuei answered truthfully, "but I'm going to try."

            "Yeah, we won't die without a fight," Shunkei piped up from behind him.  Chuei didn't bother admonishing him.  In fact, he admired his little brother's bravery.  Even Gyokuran had stopped sniffling.

            Chuei smiled.  Only Niichan was a Suzaku Shichiseishi, but the rest of the Sou family were not weaklings either.

            Suboshi hadn't moved to kill them yet.  Perhaps he was a bit impressed with their show of bravado, or maybe he was just gloating.  Either way, Chuei figured that no matter what he did now, it certainly couldn't make things worse, and maybe there was still a possibility that he could turn Suboshi's feelings around.  If he could just _explain_.

            "Suboshi-san," he said, very quietly, "my brother didn't kill your brother.  Chiri-, I mean, Amiboshi-san fell into the river and drowned."

            Suboshi snorted.  "And I'm sure that the Suzaku Shichiseishi had nothing to do with that?"

            Chuei couldn't answer that, because it had been, in fact, because of the Shichisei's pursuit that Amiboshi had fallen in.  But how could he explain that they hadn't meant for him to die?

            "They tried to save him, but he..." he started.

            "Shut up!  I don't need your lies.  I'm going to kill you no matter what you try to tell me.  My brother wouldn't have died if it weren't for yours, and the other Suzaku Shichisei, and that's all that I care about."

            Chuei tightened his jaw, knowing that nothing he said now was going to help.  Suboshi was too convinced of what he thought was the truth, and he was too bent on revenge to be stopped with just words.

            "You look just like your brother, but you're nothing like him," Chuei couldn't help observing out loud.  "Chiriko-san played beautiful music for us, and he smiled and got along with everybody.  You can't fake something like that, not entirely.  I don't know why he had to ruin the Suzaku Shichiseishi like he did, but I don't think he was an evil person.

            "Not like you."

            Suboshi said nothing for a moment.  Chuei couldn't see his face very well, backlit as it was, but he thought he saw a look of indescribable cutting pain cross his face, and for the briefest of moments, Chuei felt a bit of sympathy for the young man who had lost his brother.

            But the moment passed quickly.  Suboshi had murdered his father and his helpless little sister.  He could burn forever in Hell, for all Chuei cared.

            "Yaaa!"  Chuei heard Suboshi's angry yell, and he raised his knife in a hopeless gesture to block the blow and to protect his siblings.

            A dark blur in front of his face, and then something hit his chest, hard, forcing him to stumble backwards and fall despite his efforts to stay upright.  Then a blow on his shoulder.

            "Gyokuran... run..." he managed to gasp out.  He saw Gyokuran grab Shunkei and take a step away before she, too, fell down with a cry, struck by a flying black blur.

            "Die, all of you!" Suboshi shouted, and then Chuei felt a hail of numbing blows all over his body.

            _Father, Niichan, I'm sorry...  I tried, Niichan...  I tried..._

            And then senseless blackness engulfed him.

*   *   *

            Suboshi stood in the doorway, breathless.  He wondered why he should be breathing so hard, because it hadn't taken much effort to kill them.  They had been so laughably defenseless.

            He felt weak all of a sudden, and he slid slowly to the ground with his back against the doorframe.  He let his ryuuseisui drop, and he gathered them up and tucked them carefully back in his belt.  As he did so, his fingers touched something else that was secured there.

            A flute.  His flute.  Which Aniki had made for him just before he left for the country of Kounan.

            _"Aniki, I haven't played the flute in years," _he had said, when his brother handed him the unexpected present.

_            "That's alright, Suboshi.  You can't forget what you've learned before, right?  Practice while I'm gone, and we can play together when I get back."_

_            "But, but why?  I'm no good at it, you know that."_

_            "Don't be silly, you just never practiced enough.  Trust me, you'll learn again.  And besides, once the Suzaku Shichiseishi are dead, we can call Seiryuu and Kutou will finally have peace.  When that happens, you won't need your ryuuseisui anymore.  A flute would be much better for you, don't you agree?"_

_            "I suppose so..."_

_            "That's it then.  I'd better be getting on my way now.  See you when I get back, okay?  Take care of yourself, and remember to wait for my signal."_

            Aniki had hugged him goodbye then, but Suboshi had pushed him away after only a brief moment, though he'd smiled to show that he didn't really mind a hug now and then.  He had felt embarrassed because he'd thought that they were already old enough to have outgrown hugging in public.  He hadn't known then that it would be the last time they would ever share a hug like that.

            Indeed, it would be the last time he ever saw his brother's face again.  Aniki had looked so confident, so happy and excited even in his quiet way.  It had never occurred to either of them that he might fail in his mission, that he might die...

            _Aniki...  I've killed them, Aniki, the family of the one who killed you.  Does that help, Aniki?  Did the sounds of their screams make you feel better?_

            Suboshi stood up, feeling tired.  He went through the main room and out the gaping front door, picking up the cloak which he had discarded outside.  He paused for a moment then, holding the cloak with one hand and contemplating the house behind him, still lit by the oil lamp which would surely soon be blown out by the cold night wind.

            Nakago-sama had told him to go right back as soon as he was finished.  But he didn't want to leave just yet.  Just killing Tamahome's family wasn't enough.

            He had to see that bastard's face when he saw his own siblings dead.  He had to see the pain which he himself felt every minute of every day on the face of the one who had killed his brother.

            And he had to kill Tamahome himself.

            He smiled to himself as he put on the oversized black cloak.  He started to wipe off the blood which had spattered on his face, but then thought better of it.  Let Tamahome see it, he thought.  Let him anguish at the fact that his family had been killed by just a boy while he was away with his Suzaku Shichisei and his precious Miko.

            Tamahome had to come back at least once for a visit before he left for Hokkan.  He would come back to see his family, expecting to see them well and alive.  But when he did, Suboshi, Seiryuu's Shichiseishi, would be waiting for him.

END.


End file.
